Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 708

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1878

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

5031

2 July 1878

Edmond George Staveley
Isabella Maria Edwards

Edmond George Staveley
Isabella Maria Edwards
💍 1878/2145

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
25

Rangland
Christchurch

4 years
4 years

In the Murican Church

78/2094

2 July 1878

Rev. J. Flavell

No	5031
Date of Notice	2 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond George Staveley	Isabella Maria Edwards
	💍 1878/2145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Rangland	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Murican Church
Folio	78/2094
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Flavell

5032

3 July 1878

George William Mason
Maria Dennis

George William Mason
Maria Dennis
💍 1878/3407

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
10 years

In the Wesleyan Church

78/2112

3 July 1878

Rev. W. Morley

No	5032
Date of Notice	3 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Mason	Maria Dennis
	💍 1878/3407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church
Folio	78/2112
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Morley

5033

3 July 1878

James Wells
Annie Bones Philpitt

James Wells
Annie Bones Philpott
💍 1878/2132

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master

27
21

Papanui
Papanui

4 years
20 years

In the Wesleyan Church

78/2083

3 July 1878

Rev. J. Crump

No	5033
Date of Notice	3 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wells	Annie Bones Philpitt
BDM Match (98%)	James Wells	Annie Bones Philpott
	💍 1878/2132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church
Folio	78/2083
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Crump

5034

3 July 1878

John Henry Berryman
Harriet Barter Poulter

John Henry Berryman
Harriet Barton Painter
💍 1878/2087

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

38
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

78/2076

3 July 1878

Registrar of Marriages, W.H.A. Marchman

No	5034
Date of Notice	3 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Berryman	Harriet Barter Poulter
BDM Match (89%)	John Henry Berryman	Harriet Barton Painter
	💍 1878/2087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	78/2076
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, W.H.A. Marchman

5035

4 July 1878

Joseph Thomas Cox
Jane Maria Ray

Joseph Thomas Cox
Jane Maria Ray
💍 1878/2098

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

21
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
3 days

In the house, Christchurch

78/2050

Ann Maria Ray, mother

4 July 1878

Rev. C. Fraser

No	5035
Date of Notice	4 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Thomas Cox	Jane Maria Ray
	💍 1878/2098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house, Christchurch
Folio	78/2050
Consent	Ann Maria Ray, mother
Date of Certificate	4 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

5036

4 July 1878

[illegible] Swale
[illegible]

Spinster
[illegible]

Servant
[illegible]

30
[illegible]

Christchurch
[illegible]

5 months
[illegible]

St Michaels Church

78/1993

4 July 1878

Rev. E. G. Penny

No	5036
Date of Notice	4 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	[illegible] Swale	[illegible]
Condition	Spinster	[illegible]
Profession	Servant	[illegible]
Age	30	[illegible]
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	[illegible]
Length of Residence	5 months	[illegible]
Marriage Place	St Michaels Church
Folio	78/1993
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Penny

5037

5 July 1878

Gabriel Kauntson
Mary Heffirace

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

28
25

Christchurch
Riccarton

1 year
1 year

Catholic Church

78/2366

5 July 1878

Rev. L. Ginaty

No	5037
Date of Notice	5 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gabriel Kauntson	Mary Heffirace
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	78/2366
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Ginaty

5038

6 July 1878

Charles Housen
Unreath Davis

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker
Servant

33
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
2 years

In the house, Christchurch

78/2052

6 July 1878

Rev. C. Fraser

No	5038
Date of Notice	6 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Housen	Unreath Davis
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Servant
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house, Christchurch
Folio	78/2052
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

5039

6 July 1878

Alfred John White
Emily Bucket

Alfred John White
Emily Bucket
💍 1878/2102

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Servant

24
20

Christchurch
Madras Street

2 years
10 years

In the house, Christchurch

78/2054

Henry Bucket, father

6 July 1878

Rev. C. Fraser

No	5039
Date of Notice	6 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John White	Emily Bucket
	💍 1878/2102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Servant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Madras Street
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house, Christchurch
Folio	78/2054
Consent	Henry Bucket, father
Date of Certificate	6 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

5040

6 July 1878

Thomas Birch
Emma Henrys

Thomas Birch
Emma Henry
💍 1878/2101

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Servant

22
24

Christchurch
Tuam Street, Kaiapoi

4 months
4 days

In the house, Christchurch

78/2053

There is an error

6 July 1878

Rev. C. Fraser

No	5040
Date of Notice	6 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Birch	Emma Henrys
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Birch	Emma Henry
	💍 1878/2101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Servant
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Tuam Street, Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	4 months	4 days
Marriage Place	In the house, Christchurch
Folio	78/2053
Consent	There is an error
Date of Certificate	6 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

5041

8 July 1878

George Rix
Mary A. Gunnell

George Rix
Mary McConnell
💍 1878/2104

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

23
20

Christchurch
Tuam Street

6 days
5 months

In the house, Little Christchurch

78/2058

Person having no home, Thomas Moureau

8 July 1878

Rev. C. Fraser

No	5041
Date of Notice	8 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rix	Mary A. Gunnell
BDM Match (83%)	George Rix	Mary McConnell
	💍 1878/2104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Tuam Street
Length of Residence	6 days	5 months
Marriage Place	In the house, Little Christchurch
Folio	78/2058
Consent	Person having no home, Thomas Moureau
Date of Certificate	8 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).